A diverse workforce can bring a range of perspectives, experiences, and skills to a firm, which can lead to better decision-making, innovation, and overall performance. Inclusive recruitment practices can help to attract a diverse pool of candidates and create a more diverse workforce.
There are several steps that firms can take to ensure that their recruitment process is inclusive. Here are some examples:
01. Review and revise job descriptions and criteria:
Make sure that job descriptions and criteria are clear, unbiased, and inclusive.
Have you defined – as clearly as possible – what the job role is and the skills it requires? Make sure the criteria you set are clear and reflect the skills and competencies needed to do the job.
Avoid using language that could be perceived as biased or exclusive, and consider using tools such as the Gender Decoder to identify and address any potential biases in your language.
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02. Diversify your sourcing strategies:
Consider using a variety of sourcing strategies, such as diversity job boards, employee referrals, and partnerships with diversity-focused organisations, to attract a diverse pool of candidates.
Instead of blaming the applicants for not applying in the first place, considered whether you are advertising your roles in the wrong place. You might also want to create specific job adverts for target underrepresented groups.
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03. Inclusively design the application process:
Think about how easy you can make it for a diverse range of job applicants to apply for roles. This includes making sure the career information on your website is accessible, making sure that your application/recruitment process are inclusive and each stage of the application is inclusive and straightforward.
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04. Use a fair shortlisting process:
When shortlisting candidates, be clear about the criteria that you are measuring the candidates against, and make sure that you have at least two people shortlisting in a formal meeting setting, they can then actively challenge any assumptions made by the other.
As referred to below, assessing CVs without including any personal information is also effective at removing any bias against diverse applicants.
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05. Use anonymous resumes:
Implementing anonymous resumes (blind recruitment), where personal information such as name, gender, and age is removed, can help to reduce the impact of unconscious bias in the selection process. You can make a lot of assumptions from a name. For example, it can give an indication of your age (roughly), gender, race or religion.
This involves getting a person not involved in the shortlisting/recruitment process to make sure the panel/decision makers do not see names, schools/universities, locations, and date of birth etc, ensuring assessors’ decisions only account for the skills and experience of the candidate – the things that matter.
Many law firms adopt the approach of removing schools and universities to seek to avoid an Oxbridge bias.
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06. Diversify your selection panel and interviewers:
Consider diversifying your selection panel to include people with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. You should ensure that each stage of your recruitment process includes a mix of different people who can each bring a different perspective. This can help to ensure that a range of perspectives is considered when making hiring decisions.
This is also a chance to demonstrate that you are a diverse firm – right there in the room – reassuring candidates that you employ people like them.
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07. Provide diversity and inclusion training:
Provide diversity and inclusion training for members of the selection panel to help them recognise and address their unconscious biases.
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08. Allow for reasonable adjustments:
Allow for reasonable adjustments throughout the process. Make it clear that reasonable adjustments can be requested from the outset and before any interviews check whether the interviewee needs any reasonable adjustments, then remember to make them and communicate them to the candidate, ahead of time.
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09. Prepare for an inclusive interview:
The more preparation you do for the interview, the less the danger of making a biased decision and the greater the chance that you will make an evidence-based decision because you know exactly what you are looking for and how to elicit the information you need. For example, having a set of questions that you will ask all candidates can help to ensure fairness and consistency in the recruitment process.
Preparation might include agreeing in advance:
- the individual roles of the panel members
- the questions you will be asking
- how you will score each applicant’s answers
- whether you will be asking supplementary questions
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10. Inclusive interviews
It is important to focus on the candidate’s motivation and fit for the job during the interview process. Treat all interviews and candidates in a consistent manner in line with your agreed approach.
Listening actively and taking notes during the interview can also help you to make an informed decision about the candidate’s suitability. By paying attention to what the candidate is saying and taking thorough notes, you can better evaluate their skills and qualifications and make a more objective decision.
It is also important to avoid making decisions about the candidate’s suitability until the interview is over. This can help you to avoid the influence of cognitive biases, which can occur when we make decisions based on incomplete or biased information. By waiting until the interview is over to make a decision, you can ensure that you have all the necessary information to make an informed and unbiased decision.
By taking these steps, firms can create a more inclusive and fair recruitment process and increase the diversity of their workforce.
